Sunday, November 11, 2007

Take a left where?

I'm compiling a list of my favorite local place names. Here's what I have so far:

Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Pronounced "puh-TUK-it", comes from the Narragansett language meaning "at the falls in the river (tidal stream)" (Wikipedia)
Seekonk, Massachusetts
What a great name. Seekonk. Narragansett for "wild black goose" or Wampanoag for "mouth of stream" or "wild goose" (Wikipedia)
Woonsocket, Rhode Island
"place of steep descent" in Nipmuck (Wikipedia)
Plainville, Massachusetts
Origins are self-evident (especially if you've ever been there)

It goes without saying that most are aboriginal in origin—and thank goodness for that; I for one would rather live in a "Seekonk" than a "Mansfield" (or, for that matter, a "Toronto" as opposed to a "York").

But my personal fave thus far is "Braintree". Creepy and apt—given its proximity to über-educated Boston. Well, it too is an indigenous name of sorts; named after a town in England, which in turn derives from Celtic (maybe):

The origin of the name Braintree is obscure. [...] One theory is that Braintree was originally Branoc's tree, Branoc apparently being an old personal name. [...] Other scholars say the "Brain" element in the word is accepted to be derived from "Brid/ Brigantia/ Bride/ Bigit/ Britain". This is the ancient Celtic, and possibly pre-celtic name for the Goddess of the land of Britain. [...] "Tree" comes from the Saxon suffix, more usually spelt "try", denoting a big village.
(yeah, Wikipedia, where else?)

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